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by JetGirl1832



Series: Day by Day [7]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Awkward, College, F/M, Modern Era, Studying, smart phones, start of a relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22272103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832
Summary: Biology has never been Eponine's strong suit.
Relationships: Éponine Thénardier/Combeferre
Series: Day by Day [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603093
Kudos: 7





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**Author's Note:**

> “Am I your lockscreen?” “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
> 
> https://honeyboychangbin.tumblr.com/post/182200474739/sentence-starters

There were certain things that no matter how hard she tried Eponine found herself struggling with the concepts, one of them was biology. Which unfortunately was a class she desperately needed to pass. Thankfully through Marius she’d become friends with his friends. Or at least sort of.

It at least meant that Combeferre agreed to tutor her in biology was what it meant, and the best part? He did it for free.

“I don’t need the money,” Combeferre had told her, “or coffee or whatever,” when he refused her most recent offer of repaying him for his kindness. “Helping someone doesn’t always need to be a transaction.”

That was not the life that Eponine had grown up with, but who was she to press him to take what little money she had or anything else if he didn’t want to. 

“Let’s go over the cell cycle again,” Combeferre adjusted the way he was sitting in his chair, “that’s something that will surely be on the midterm if I know Dr. Pasteur.” 

Eponine sighed, it had been a long day of studying and she was very quickly losing her focus and energy throughout it all. 

“Uhhh,” Eponine leaned back in her chair, “There is the G1 phase then the…” she tried to remember what came next, was it fission or wait… No that was something else entirely. 

“G2…” The looking on Combeferre’s face quickly told her it was wrong so she racked her brain for the answer-

“Wait, next is the S phase, then G2,” she corrected herself confidently, “then the M phase or mitosis… then the cells splits during cytokinesis!”

“Good,” Combeferre nodded and glanced at his watch, “why don’t we take a short break, I’m going to grab some coffee and then we can move on.”

“Okay,” Eponine shrugged slowly rising to her feet. She didn’t need coffee or anything but even just getting up and walking around would do her a world off good. She had gone to look at the nearby shelf that contained a large amount of travel books when she heard distinctive buzz. Eponine immediately went to go and check her phone until she caught sight of Combeferre’s phone all let up with a text notification.

She knew that she shouldn’t snoop but she was certain it was just Enjolras about some sort of political thing. However she was immediately distracted not by the content of the text… But of Combeferre’s wallpaper.

“Ready to get back to work?” Combeferre returned with a cup of coffee in hand and then paused when he saw what she’d been doing, “were you looking at my phone?”

Eponine swallowed and put his phone back on the table, “Am I your lock screen?”

She watched as Comeferre’s face turned bright red, “you weren’t supposed to see that.” he muttered. 

“And you really think I wouldn’t have when you leave your phone out like this?” Eponine raised her brow.

Her stomach had knotted itself up and it felt like she had the beginning of a headache, however if it was related to this discovery or from her extensive studying she wasn’t sure. Was she flattered or concerned? Until now she’d never had the reason think that Combeferre liked her as a friend, let alone the possibility that he might like her as even more than a friend. 

“This is certainly not how I would have liked you to find out,” Comebefferre replied.

“I figured as much,” Eponine scoffed, “is this why you’ve been tutoring me for free?”

“I really do want to help you-”

“Yeah?” Eponine tried her best not to raise he voice, “it wasn’t something more?”

“‘Ponine would you please?”

“Surely you must know that I’ve dealt with my fair share of creeps in the past,” She hissed, “I never thought that you’d be one of them.”

“‘Ponine,” Combeferre sighed when she finally stopped speaking for more than a handful of seconds, “I know I’ve handled this poorly, I should have told you and been honest from the start,” he ran his hand through his hair. 

“No shit,” Eponine scoffed.

“Think we can pretend you never saw that?” Combeferre asked weakly.

“No,” Eponine replied firmly, “change it, now.”

Combeferre nodded his head, grabbed his phone and set to work changing his lock screen.

Eponine sighed, what a day this had been…

“I might be able to forgive you for whatever… this was,” she folded her arms across her chest, “because I don’t really think you’re a creep like those other guys…. But you have to admit that this was strange,” she bit her lower lip, “you can change your lock screen back… If you actually ask me out, and things actually seem to go well. Okay?”

Combeferre chuckled, “Okay.”


End file.
